Page 85 - Tzurba M'Rabanan Volume1

ןנברמ אברוצ ׳ב הרז הדובע תוכלה · 83

of charity. Such true altruism certainly has great distinction of the Shenot Chayim. However, he
merit and would prolong the exile. Hence, it is proves that Tosafot clearly does not make such
20
forbidden to accept such charity even in private. a distinction. Rav Kook says that since none of
The sugya in Sanhedrin on the other hand is refer- the Rishonim mentioned such a distinction, we
ring to receiving charity after there was a request have to assume that it is erroneous.
from the poor. Based on this distinction, the Bin- Perhaps we can defend the opinion of the She-
yan Tzion permitted Jewish organizations to re- not Chayim by answering at least some of the
ceive funds from non-Jews, given for the purpose questions of the Zera Emet, and find a basis for
of helping the Jewish community in pre-state Is- this opinion in Rashi.
rael, as the funds came in response to advertise- Regarding the logic of distinguishing between
ments describing the great need and plight in the the royal family and regular gentiles, one could
Holy Land. argue that, since there is no din of areivut (mu-
Rav Yishmael HaKohen of Modena in his tual responsibility) for gentiles, the merit of one
responsa Zera Emet quotes a different distinc- non-Jew does not necessarily impact on anoth-
19
tion made by the Shenot Chayim. The Gemara in er. Therefore, if a non-Jew does a great act of
21
Bava Batra was referring specifically to receiving kindness, it should not give the royal family more
charity from the royal family who reigned at the merits and extend their rule. But if the royal fam-
time. This would certainly give the ruling family ily themselves act in such a manner; they will
great merit and prolong the exile, and that is why merit an extension of their rule due to the right-
it was forbidden to accept even in private (unless eousness of their own actions.
there is a fear of enmity from the government, This distinction could be consistent with the
and even then the money is divided among the opinion of Rashi, as we saw above. The only
non-Jewish poor). However, the Gemara in San- question though is whether this is actually con-
hedrin discusses receiving money from a regular sidered prolonging the exile. The Shenot Chayim
gentile. In that case, there is no concern that the suggests that this only occurs when the merits
merit of giving charity will prolong the exile, only are given to the royal family which would then
a concern of chillul Hashem or having no sense of extend their reign.
self-respect. These problems only apply in public Although the Zera Emet rejected the explana-
but not in private. tion of the Shenot Chayim, and Rav Kook simi-
The Zera Emet rejects this opinion for two larly felt that no Rishon made such a distinction,
reasons. First, he found no logic to distinguish based on what we have explained, there seems
between the merits of a regular gentile and the to be a strong argument for the Shenot Chayim’s
royal family. Either way, it would seemingly pro- logic, and one could find a strong basis for it in
long the exile. Second, the Rambam in his for- Rashi’s opinion.
mulation of the prohibition (Hilchot Melachim
10:10) seems to prohibit receiving money from Other Acharonim
a regular gentile as well. Rav Avraham Yitzchak Up until now we have seen many Acharonim that
HaKohen Kook (Responsa Daat Kohen, Yoreh accepted the claim of the Derisha that there is a
Deah 132) also mentions the possibility of this seeming contradiction between the Gemara in
19. Responsa Zera Emet 112
20. Tosafot, Arachin 6b ask how the Gemara there, which brings a story of a certain gentile who donated something to a shul and Rabbi Meir accepted
it, doesn’t contradict the Gemara in Bava Batra. If the distinction of the Shenot Chayim is correct, Tosafot would not have asked the question.
21. I found a hint to this in the Shevet HaLevi 2:126, although he doesn’t mention the notion of areivut explicitly.

This volume is not to be distributed. Copies are for the personal use of purchaser only.